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Welcome to IGDID

OUR GOAL:

To provide a unique environment where folks who have experienced trauma can openly and safely talk. We strive to respect, validate, and learn from each other.

ACHIEVING OUR GOAL

Achieving our goal requires cooperative collaboration amongst members and staff. Members posts remain appropriate and relevant to topics. Terms of Service are clearly posted to help members maintain the dignity of the board. Members of this group are at a stage in their healing to independently regulate their own behavior, as well as keeping themselves safe while on the forums. Staff regularly monitor posts and replies to ensure the board remains a safe and comfortable environment of learning for everyone.

As a friendly and kind community, we validate each other as equally special and significant.

These forums are active and the community not too large or too small - about 400 posts per day. There are many forums on different topics. The topics range in subject matter also. You are welcome to interact as you feel comfortable.

This is a safe place for members. We encourage building coping skills, learning from each other and material shared. We discourage sharing explicit memories of past abuse. We feel that processing memories be done with professionals. There are no practicing therapists on these forums. Therefore, topics that call for therapist type responses are discouraged.

Feel free to look around. Realize that, as a guest, your view of the forums is minimal. These forums are otherwise private to the public view and/or search engines.

We have literally hundreds of articles and provide workshops for everyone. Please feel free to email me anytime with questions. I am also providing a tutorial that should help with navigating our site.

'Understanding Child Abuse' A video

I made this video with thoughts about how difficult it is when we fear 'telling' about our abuser/abusers even long after it is over, even in therapy. The fear comes from how we are raised through the abuse, what we are told, the threats we hear as children. The fear of not being believed, of being told we are "liars" becomes a reenactment of the abuse we suffered as children when we hear about the 'false memory' theories that are promoted through such groups as the FMSF. These theories, though never proven, are accepted by some mental health professionals and much of the public. The notion that therapists can 'implant memories' is ridiculous.

What hurts most for survivors and/or children who have suffered abuse is the 'not being believed'. The fear is such that it can silence us - protecting the abusers and keeping us in fear of 'telling'. There is a lot of child abuse in the world - and, many profiting from the abuse of children. It is not surprising that silencing survivors and children who suffer abuse is as rampant as the abuse itself.

I feel that the actual 'perpetrators' are those who work so hard to promote public belief that child abuse is over-reported, that most abusers are innocent, that reporters are suffering from 'false memory syndrome' (not an actual syndrome, being disproved scientifically), that therapists implant 'false memories, and that supporters of children and survivors of child abuse are also "liars" out to exploit them. We know that these are lies.

We also know that there are the mental health professionals and supporters who work diligently to bring valid and reliable information to the public and to provide needed support for the children and survivors.

Unfortunately, many who are suffering abuse are not believed.

I didn't include this in the video - but, would like to thank those who listen without judgement - who never 'doubt' us - allowing us the freedom and respect we have always deserved to tell our story as it happened. Nothing hurts worse than to be rejected and called 'liars'. And, to say that 'anyone' is suffering from 'false memory syndrome' - IS to call them 'liars'.